Disclaimer: See previous chapter

Chap. 14

"Captain. I'm picking up a slight energy surge. I think we might have found the place."

Johnny nodded as he turned away from the window. After Ky's departure, Johnny began his own investigation of the event that had injured the young officer. Hearing about a duplicate of Justice roaming about was more than enough to warrant his attention. It took him a bit of time to find it however, until he learned of an oddity in airship travel. Following it had been challenging, but once done, the crew had managed to trace it to this general area.

"Dizzy?"

"I can feel something..." she answered, her eyes narrowed in concentration. "I'm not sure...but I...I know this feeling..."

Johnny nodded; Dizzy's answer being the confirmation he needed. "Okay. Take us down, but keep us in the clouds. No sense in letting them know we're here yet."

With that, the captain moved toward the side and onto the deck. But just as he opened the door, the ship suddenly rattled violently. Johnny grabbed hold of the side of the door before he fell. Dizzy fell forward, but Johnny managed to catch her as well.

"What was that?"

"A high concentration of magic energy just exploded down below." March replied. "It's coming from the same place where we picked up the energy surge."

Helping Dizzy to her feet, Johnny found himself shrugging. "Okay, forget the cloud cover. Take us in, but keep the ship low and out of sight."

"Roger!"

The Mayship cruised out of the skies and lower toward the ground. It wasn't often that Johnny took the entire ship in, but in this case, he had to move fast. As the Mayship swooped over the wasteland, Johnny went out on the deck. There, he managed to see the facility, or at least what was left of it. From the angle they were flying in, they could see half of the structure standing, with the other half looking as though it been bomb.

Probably not too far from the truth...

Though his sunglasses, Johnny was able to see dim flashes of light coming from within the damaged structure. Judging from the magical energy he was sensing (as well as the additional eruptions occurring within), it seemed that a battle was taking place. The Mayship made a single swoop around the facility, still out of range, but close enough to get a good look of the battle. Though he couldn't make out what was creating the explosions in the background, he did catch a glimpse of colors in the clearing. Beside him, Dizzy was looking at the same scene and seeing the same as he did. Colors moving about. Red, black, blue-white...

"Testament?"

Johnny blinked and looked at her, not knowing or realizing how sharp her eyesight was. She had made out the black figure as Testament? What was he doing here? But then his mind sorted through the other colors he had thought of and just as soon as he thought it, he looked back.

Blue-white...!

"Ky!"

Again, Johnny turned to her, but she was no longer standing beside him...

"Please stop!"

Landing between Testament and Ky, Dizzy held her hands out to the two combatants. Ky looked at her in awe, not fully believing that she was there before him, looking as angelic as he always thought she appeared. Even more so with her wings spread out wide along with her hands and her eyes soft in plea. But before he could speak, the black gear beat him to it.

"What are you doing here?"

Dizzy's eyes now focused solely on the taller gear, all the while her body turned so that Ky was behind her. "Please, don't fight him."

Testament noticed her posture change and stated. "You are protecting him." His eyes narrowed as they were directed toward Ky. "And he spoke of you, but his eyes were hiding something."

Dizzy blinked upon hearing that Ky had spoken about her. Then May was right. He really had been thinking about her. Despite the situation, she found her cheeks beginning to flush lightly at the thought, something else Testament took note of and stated as well.

"He means something to you."

Dizzy paused in silence to glance over at Ky. Their eyes met and their gazes held and Dizzy replied with a soft smile. "Yes. He does."

Testament was still for a moment, with only the dry winds fluttering about his skirt as he seemed to be deep in thought. Finally, Testament lowered his scythe and his gaze softened, much to Ky's surprise (at least to the softening part; the reason why wasn't). Dizzy moved toward the gear and took hold of his arms, kindly smiling all the while.

"Testament..."

Ky felt himself lighten at the moment, but it quickly ended in light of a loud explosion that erupted behind him. Turning about, Ky looked into the ruined facility and saw only smoke and flame. But after a moment, a shadow began to emerge from the burning ash. And unfortunately, it was way too tall to be Sol. Dizzy looked on as well, sensing its approach long before it was visible. And as before on the Mayship, she was feeling something that she was familiar with. Something produced a single word in her mind.

'Mother...?'

Vengeance strode out from the smoke and before the three. Her armor showed slight signs of battement and burns, but beyond that, she was relatively undamaged. Her gaze swept upon the three before her and soon settled upon Dizzy. Once more, the sapphire eyes glowed ominously, as her focus was now on the young gear.

"Control compromised. Eliminating disruption source."

It took a moment for Ky to realize what she had meant. Dizzy's presence was interfering with Vengeance's control over Testament and to stop it, she had to get rid of Dizzy. Ky didn't even see what attack Vengeance launched, nor did he care as he launched himself as the commander gear, Fuuraiken clashing with Vengeance's own blade. The Commander-Gear immediately kicked out and Ky was met with a metallic foot, sending him to ground.

"Ky!"

Dizzy began to move to the fallen officer, but her action exposed her to Vengeance as she boosted toward Dizzy with her claws extended. On reflex, Dizzy drew her wings up and around her in defense. But instead of impact, there was a loud clash that resounded. Looking out, Dizzy saw what had stopped the attack.

A blood-red scythe...

Sparks flashed about as Testament held back Vengeance and soon, the two gears parted in force. Testament swooped back in before he even touched the ground, but Vengeance was already on the move, her arm producing a sword and slashing it across Testament. The dark gear managed to block, but the force was enough for it to wound him somewhat. But Testament was unable to stop the clawed hand from grabbing hold of his face and holding him up in the air. Black electricity began to surge through the commander gear's arm and into Testament. The dark gear let out a groan of agony, but it was cut short when an arrow of energy struck the Vengeance, forcing her to drop Testament. Looking over, she saw that the arrow had come from a blue-white wing and an outstretched arm.

"I won't let you hurt them!"

Vengeance stared as Dizzy transformed into her black-clad battle form in a flash of light. A energy ring encircled around her legs as she hovered just above the ground. Her eyes returned the gaze Vengeance had on her, while she felt her power beginning to awaken and rise to the full. 'No. No so much' she mentally whispered to herself. She still wasn't in complete control of her powers as of yet and she had to be careful.

Vengeance suddenly swooped at Dizzy with unearthly speed, her claws tearing the ground with charged energy. But Dizzy saw it and rushed at her, moving just as fast. Upon closing, Dizzy waved her hand downward and her black wing responded, altering a part of its form into a sword-like weapon. Vengeance did the same, once again bringing forth a sword of her own. The blade clashed violently against each other and held until Vengeance pulled back and swiped with her other hand, summoning another sword in attack.

Dizzy managed to duck under the second swipe and saw Vengeance coming in for a third. Floating back, Dizzy extended her blue wing this time. The wing folded as the previous one did, but more so as it changed into a female form; Undine. The icy figure stretched out her hand in response to Dizzy's thought and immediately brought up a huge shard of ice magic from the ground. Vengeance cut off her own attack to evade, but the ice still managed to rake against her armor.

Pressing the attack, Dizzy reversed direction and moved toward Vengeance, her black wing now morphing into a shrouded humanoid form, Necro. The dark specter lashed out, his hand becoming a huge beast-like claw that threatened further damage, but Vengeance suddenly whirled about and swung her arm. A beam of energy shot out like a flash, hitting Dizzy and knocking her back.

Stunned, Dizzy drifted back and shook her head to clear out...whatever it was that hit her. But when she did, she immediately she caught sight of the shoulder armor of the gear opening up, with a great surge of energy coming from them. Too late did Dizzy realize the power of the attack that was coming, nor could she avoid it as she was too close. Instinctively, her wings began to close around her in defense, but they had covered her only halfway when the energy blast of Vengeance was unleashed upon her.

And then...

"Ride The Lightning!"